Great Expectations

Here are some new things from lil ol' me that you can expect to see at the upcoming craft fair on Sunday (see previous post). And I'm working on some new repeat patterns to incorporate into some more stationery, silkscreened on 100% recycled paper nonetheless! I will also have some cool decorative trays, too. Don't forget to come by!!!

Craft Fairs Galore!

The past craft fair was a success, meaning I sold some things. Yay! Drew was a super-boyfriend, helping set up, greeting everyone, and rushing to stuff everything back in the car near the end when it started to downpour. I'm going to be doing another one this coming Sunday, and my booth will be bigger and better. More stationery, cool refurbished trays for sale, my signature beaded earrings. And my mom, Deborah Cherry Mosch, will have a booth right next to me, so please come check us both out! Here's the info for this next craft fair:


First Monthly Local Food & Music Celebration
-Sustainable Food
-Live Music
-Artisan Crafts
-Local Farmers

Sunday, May 4th
2pm-7pm
514 MLK Street, Savannah

(sponsored by Blowin' Smoke BBQ & Green Tomato Concepts)

Craft Fair This Saturday!!!

Sorry everyone for this last-minute announcement. I've been recuperating from an exceptionally debilitating cold for the past week (boo-hoo, I know, poor me). But this Saturday, April 26th, there will be what is being called an "open-air bazaar," or something to that effect. Here, people will be selling handmade crafts, artwork, their own belongings they no longer want, and who-knows-what-else! I'll be there at a table selling my beaded earrings, some silkscreened stationery, and some who-knows-what-else on the side. Incidentally, SCAD's Sidewalk Arts Festival will be taking place simultaneously only a couple blocks away at Forsyth Park, so if you're already going to that, why not swing over and check out the craft fair/market/open-air bazaar as well? Should be fun and hot, so bring a bottle of water and a parasol to look pretty. See you all there!

Craft Bazaar
Saturday, April 26
8am-2pm
Old SEARS parking lot @ Bull & Henry
for more info click here

A part-time job fit for me.

Hello all! So I promised I would post a picture of my first handiwork at the new alterations/custom-clothing job. Sort of true to my word (I did some hand work before this), here is the first-ever thing I've done on the fast, powerful, industrial JUKI sewing machine! It was scary, but look how successful I was! I turned 2 pairs of kid pants into adorable shorts. And I included a pic of the store kitty, Moonshine (named for his color, not the drink...) Sorry for the photo quality, I took them with my phone.

OK, so I apologize ahead of time for the mass quantity of photos you are about to see. But this is the waaaay edited version. I just couldn't pare it down more than this! I guess maybe I should visit my blog more often to spare you all my sporadic lengthy posts. These are photos of when Drew's mom and sister were here last week, my VERY FIRST BREAD MADE FROM SCRATCH (!!!), and the Sheep to Shawl festival at Oatland Island I went to yesterday with my mom. I wish every weekend was like this!

Drew and I took his mom and sister to Oatland Island while they were here, so I've gone there 2 weekends in a row!

Right after we left Oatland Island we took them to the beach for a short, blustery walk.

I spent all day Friday making bread for the first time-- from scratch! This one is rosemary garlic focaccia. Yummm.

And this is a part-white, part-wheat, all-delicious loaf. Yum again! If you've never made bread before I highly recommend it. It's addictive- I just want to make it all the time! And it's so gratifying; it kind of feels like changing a tire, but a little more girly.

First step of sheep to shawl: shearing the sheep. This is Dottie the sheep. She's not knocked out or anything, so don't worry. She's not even really being held down that much. Apparently once the sheep is on the ground they don't struggle. Kind of sad, but this was a hot day, so I'm sure she felt way better after this was done.

There were tons of old-timey expositions going on there. In a log cabin a couple women were making cornbread from scratch and cooking it over that open fire!

Even old-timey music.

Watching someone spin yarn is magical.

They had carding going on, too, which is when you use two fine-toothed brushes to brush the wool back and forth to get out all the debris and to get all the fibers to go in the same direction. This prepares it for spinning later.

This was Philippa (I think that was her name). She was showing everyone how to card...

Including my mom!

Wa-hoo-hoo! (the owl's name, I'm not just spouting out onomatopoeias here)

A woman in Effingham County has 4 alpacas, along with her 20 or so chickens. She brought 2 of the alpacas to Oatland Island to demonstrate shearing. It just made me want one all the more! And apparently you can't own just one-- they'll practically die without a mate!

Wow, it's about time I wrote to you all! I suppose this calls for a little update. I am proud to announce I am the newest member (albeit part-time) of the downtown Savannah design studio/alterations business Stitch. I was feeling a slight void in my sewing repertoire, and my good friend Orea mentioned once a long time ago that her boss at Stitch was a little shorthanded. So months later, I remembered this, thought it could be good for all parties involved (Eileen gets the help she needs, and I get to further my sewing education). So far, so good. I've been there 2 days and have already learned new things. Yay! Don't worry, my accessory business takes priority, but this is just a little bonus on the side. I'll take a photo of the first pair of pants I hem.

Drew's birthday was recently, so we went out to my parents' house (they live on the water and have a dock and a small boat, so needless to say I am both jealous and lucky), where I made a raw feast and then my dad took the 2 of us out on an adventure of a boat ride. The gnats were unbearable out of the water, the wind was strong, and the water was choppy (the latter two factors equaling some wet clothes). But we all had a blast.

That same night when we got home, the electricity went out. For the entire night. We walked around the park in total darkness, save for the police lights on every other corner directing traffic. Turned out there was a tornado somewhere nearby (devastating parts of Atlanta) which caused a Savannah city-wide blackout! Crazy. We took some video of pretty amazing lightning in the sky-- it was nonstop, repetitive flashes in the same spot, with no sound or thunder whatsoever. Eerie.

This past weekend Drew's mom and sister came for a fast-forwarded weekend visit. Lots of fun cooking, shopping, movie-watching, and Oatland Island (which means OWLS!!!) Speaking of which, for all you Savannahians, Oatland Island is hosting "Sheep to Shawl" this Saturday (29th) from 10-5. Admission is $5. They'll demonstrate sheep shearing, yarn spinning, and more! Go fibers!

Now you may enjoy looking through moments of my life.

Drew got to steer the boat for a short while.

What the sky looked like when we returned from the boat ride, pre-tornado.

What the sky looked like mid-tornado weather. This is actually a moment of the crazy lightning captured to film. Well my computer, technically. A fraction of a second later the sky was black again.

OK, no reason. Just a recent pic of Phineas (top) and Felino. Too cute.

Ben Folds Still Rocks!

After all the times Ben Folds has come to Savannah, my sister and I finally went to see him for the first time last week. And let me say, it was AMAZING! The only song he left out that I wanted to hear was Song for the Dumped. But other than that it was great. Except for 2 college freshmen bozos in front of us in the balcony that didn't realize it was a sit-down event, and felt they had to show their appreciation for the music by ruining everyone else's view. But other than that... Oh, and he has a set of twins, a boy and a girl by the names of Louie and Gracie, respectively. How cute is that? And I must say, the new songs sounded great, so if you're a fan, you should get his new album. I do miss the old band, though. Such great chemistry.

Catalogs!

Here is my pile of catalogs, cover letters, and empty envelopes ready to be filled. Officially sent out last Tuesday!!! Am I allowed to say I'm proud of myself? At least a little?

Owls and Dill Pickle

Hello everyone! I've been working hard finishing up my catalogs, and I finally sent them out on Tuesday! All eighteen of them, to promising boutiques all over the country. Everyone cross your fingers, now. I'll post a photo of them soon, along with some requested pics of my newly rearranged living spaces.

I also added a temporary page to my website where you can view press articles I've been in. I'm so famous! Not really. Unfortunately you can't zoom in close enough to read them, but they're there- for now. See them here.

I spent this past weekend in Athens visiting my sister, Isadora. We had a lot of fun-- vegan dinners, What Not To Wear, Moe's burritos, Clean House marathons, and my favorite part was going to Memorial Park to look at ducks and geese. And there's a back way to the wild animal reserve there, where we saw little tiny pocket-sized owls, otters, a lazy bear, two playful bobcats, a deer way too accustomed to people, and a little alligator named Dill Pickle.

A comfy place to call our own...

First off, let me apologize for being away from this for a while. I've been putting together my first wholesale catalogue to mail out to boutiques all over. I'm really excited about the layout, and I'm making all of them myself, so it'll take me back to my bookmaking days. And I have had such an indescribable emotion towards my living quarters lately, too. A recent post in Amy Nieto's blog really reminded me of these feelings.

As you saw glimpses of in my previous post, I've recently rearranged some rooms in our apartment. And I love it now! I've never loved this apartment more! When we first moved in, it was a bit surreal because I had just finished living in an apartment two doors down that had the exact same floor plan. Except this apartment was dirtier and had more work to do than the first one. Already stains on the carpet (hey- less work for us to do in that area!); the linoleum was peeling up next to the bathtub; there was no towel rack or shower curtain rod in the bathroom; leak stains on the ceilings; and the two non-working, brick, floor-to-ceiling fireplaces had been painted cobalt blue and school bus yellow, respectively. (On the plus side, the rent is unbelievably cheap, Drew and I each have our own little studios, it has a washer and dryer, a backyard, and it's only 4 blocks from Forsyth Park. OK, maybe there are a lot of perks.) You'd think one would never really be able to fall in love with this kind of place, right?

But Drew and I worked really hard-- he installed the towel rack and we both painted the fireplaces. I did some constant rearranging of furniture. We both installed a screen door in the back. Hung up all our artwork, did some MAJOR cleaning, and now everyone that comes in says it's so comfy and relaxing and homey! Yay! Not that I have many people over, mainly just my family members say this.

And I hardly even notice those other things now. But I've never worked this hard to make somewhere feel like home, with the exception of my childhood bedroom, and we won't talk about that. So of course I feel attachment to this little apartment on Barnard street. It's home to me. So why is it that I still have this little voice in the back of my head that's ready to move? Why? I love Savannah, I love my family being here, I love the apartment, I actually still know people here. Yet I keep finding myself asking Drew when we'll be moving. Maybe it's out of habit-- I've been asking him since I graduated college in 2005. I'm scared to give up this place we've worked so hard on, and possibly leave so many other good things, but at the same time I HAVE lived here for almost 25 years. It's probably time for a quick change of scenery, then I'm sure we'll come crawling back. What is it about Savannah that just sucks you in and makes you get comfortable? Anybody? Anybody?